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July 3, 2011

G83: Red Sox 2, Astros 1

Beckett (8-5-1-0-11, 102) kept the Astros under his spell while the Red Sox tried and tried and tried to put a second run on the board. They finally snapped the 1-1 tie thanks to a bases loaded walk with two outs in the ninth inning. Boston's first run scored on an infield error. Whatever works...

The Red Sox left 12 men on base, ending the third, fourth, and ninth innings with the bases loaded. They were 1-for-12 with RATS. The Astros pitchers walked 22 Red Sox batters in the three-game series, including nine on Friday and 10 today. Boston pitchers issued four walks, all on Saturday.

Boston began the fourth with Kevin Youkilis's single and a walk to J.D. Drew. After Josh Reddick struck out, Yamaico Navarro singled to load the bases. Jason Varitek grounded to first baseman Brett Wallace, who threw home. His throw was extremely high; catcher Carlos Corporan leapt, but could not hold on the ball, and Youkilis scored (who was yelping in pain after sliding in safely when Corporan landed on his right foot/ankle).

The Red Sox had the first two men on in both the fifth and seventh innings, but could not do a damn thing, failing to advance any of the runners, and hitting into a double play in each inning.

With one out in the ninth, pinch-hitter Drew Sutton fell behind 0-2 and worked Mark Melancon for an eight-pitch walk. Jacoby Ellsbury singled to right. Dustin Pedroia grounded the ball into the shortstop hole. Clint Barmes had a play at third base, but he went to second instead. There was no relay to first, so the Sox had runners at first and third with two outs. The Astros decided to intentionally walk Adrian Gonzalez and load the bases for Youkilis. Melancon threw three high pitches to Yook, dropped in a strike, and then threw ball four, forcing in a run.

Jonathan Papelbon struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth. He allowed a single to Wallace, but came back to strike out Chris Johnson to complete the sweep. (The 2-2 pitch before Wallace's single was a borderline (though very callable) strike, so Bot ended up striking out four batters to get out of the inning.)

The Red Sox are now 1.5 GB, as the Yankees lost to the Mets 3-2 in 10 innings. Mariano Rivera blew the save in the ninth and Jason Bay singled in the winning run in the 10th. New York shortstop Ramiro Pena committed two errors (one in the ninth and one in the tenth) on routine plays to aid the Mets.

Lyles is a 20-year-old right-hander who made his major league debut on May 31. In six starts, he has a 4.75 ERA.

Baseball Prospectus 2011:

Lyles reached Triple-A as a 19-year-old barely two years after he was selected by the Astros in the supplemental round of the 2008 draft ... Lyles draws rave reviews for his maturity and mound presence ... His stuff is not dominant, but plays up because of his approach and ability to keep things unpredictable, mixing a 90-92 mph fastball with late life, a big-breaking curveball, a slider capable of snapping lumber, and a changeup that's already a swing-and-miss offering.

July 3, 1906 - Cleveland beats the visiting Tigers 5-0 in game called after six innings because of rain. Detroit outfielder Germany Schaefer plays the last few innings wearing a raincoat over his uniform. (At second base, I believe!)

To my way of thinking the late Germany Schaefer created one of the funniest situations I have ever seen on the ball field. The humor centers around his personal appearance rather than his play.

It was back in 1906, Detroit playing in Cleveland. The date was July 3. There was a crowd of about 5,000 in the stands. The weather was threatening, and not desiring to pick up any rain checks on the Fourth of July, the managers of the two clubs suggested that I make every effort to finish the game.

Larry Lajoie was managing Cleveland while Bill Armour was in charge of Detroit. Both agreed they would make their players hustle in and out and would tolerate no delays.

Everything went fine for three and one-half innings. In the last of the fourth inning, the Cleveland club made five runs. That started trouble.

The Detroit club four runs to the bad, with the promise of having rain end the game any minute, forgot all about their good resolutions in no way to delay the game.

Immediately every possible manner of stalling was indulged in. Nothing was overlooked. Jack Sheridan, who was umpiring the bases with me, peeved at the tatics of the Detroit club, suggested that I keep on playing regardless of how much rain fell.

The Cleveland club finally managed to retire the Tigers in the first of the fifth. That made it a ball game. It was raining hard. Both clubs were willing to quit and call it a day. However, Sheridan and I were soaking wet, also a bit sore, and we decided to keep on playing.

Three more innings were played in a downpour. When the Detroit club took the field for the last of the eighth, there was Schaefer at second, glove in one hand, umbrella in another, and wearing a rain coat buttoned high around his collar, borrowed from a fan. I called the game.

Jordan Lyles is pitching a PERFECT GAME!!!Jordan Lyles is pitching a PERFECT GAME!!!Jordan Lyles is pitching a PERFECT GAME!!!Jordan Lyles is pitching a PERFECT GAME!!!Jordan Lyles is pitching a PERFECT GAME!!!

Laura sez:is anyone talking about what castig just said? possible newindependent league team in sugarland, tx, suburb of houston, to be called "sugarland skeeters" (mosquitos!!), possible mgr "former ML mgr whose identity cannot be revealed at this time, but will be very interesting from a red sox point of view"